Everything Burns
by Iron Rose Writer
Summary: Summer did not answer his question. Instead she asked, "Jack, why do you still use that stick?" "What are you talking about?" Jack was growing annoyed at the Summer's refusal to answer his questions. She gestured to his staff. "That's what I'm talking about." Jack paused, growing suspicious. "What do you mean?" {One-shot. Has OC. Not JackxOC}
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello! Iron Rose here! This is a scene from an unfolding plot going on inside my head. It's a part of an imaginary "sequel" to ROTG. (Obviously.) I highly doubt that I will ever write (much less publish) the rest unless I get really tired of my main story. Anywho, here it is. Enjoy!**

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They landed in the forest next to Jack's pond. Well really just Jack. The instant his feet touched the green, summer grass, it froze. Frost coated the ground all around Jack's feet. The red-haired girl, who led him here, didn't touch the ground at all. She never did. She always just hovered a few inches above it. She also never truly answered Jack's questions when he asked her why. She simply told him that it was "too dangerous".

Jack could not understand why she would be afraid of the ground. Usually it was the other way around. The girl looked tough enough. She wore a tight-fitting, high-necked tank dress that reached her mid-thigh. It was yellow at the top, turned orange as it met her middle, then flared out and became red near the bottom. Surrounding the collar, the bottom hem and the sleeves was gold trimming. On her legs she wore gold fishnet tights and knee-high combat boots. The boots had three inch heels on them and steel toes, if she was not intimidating enough. In the right lighting, the girl's hair shimmered due to the strands of gold mixed in to the naturally curly, fiery red that was already there. She carried a long metal staff in her right hand. On the end of the staff there was the sun surrounded by a circle, representing her season.

"What are we doing, Summer?" Jack asked the girl.

She glared at him. "You aren't allowed to call me that."

"But Father Time does it," Jack replied. He felt pretty good having ruffled her feathers.

"Last I checked you weren't Father Time. Only he gets to call me that. Got it, _Frost_?"

Jack grimaced. He hated when she called him by his last name. Whenever she said it, it sounded like an insult. "Yeah. But you still haven't answered my question. Why are we here?"

Summer did not answer his question. Instead she asked, "Jack, why do you still use that stick?"

"What are you talking about?" Jack was growing annoyed at the Summer's refusal to answer his questions.

She gestured to his staff. "That's what I'm talking about."

Jack paused, growing suspicious. "What do you mean?"

"You don't need it anymore. You said that Pitch broke it. That should have released the inhibitors on your powers."

"What on earth-?"

Summer sighed. This was going to be more difficult than she thought. "Let me show you." She stuck her own staff in the ground. She flew over to the pond. Jack followed, every step froze the ground around his feet. He was slightly wary of what she was about to do. Summer carefully placed one foot on the water's surface. All around her foot the water began to bubble and boil. She walked to the center of the pond and stood there. She looked at Jack, trying to guess what he would do.

Jack could not believe his eyes. Summer was boiling the water without using her staff at all. Could he freeze the water without his staff. He looked down at the object that he had always thought gave him his powers. He began to lower the staff towards the ground, but stopped. No. Jack was not stupid. He had no intention of drowning again. He looked back up at the girl boiling water with just her feet.

Summer could see that Jack was not convinced. She knew how important the stick was to him. She still carried her own staff because it was part of her. A part of her that she would not dare to leave unattended. Summer knew the secrets of the staffs, so did Father Time. He was the one who had told her and Bloom about why they could never let the staffs fall into the wrong hands. At that time Leaf had been too new to their line of work to understand. Summer doubted that Bloom even realized the full implications of what Father Time had told to them. She sighed. Then she had an idea.

"Hey Jack-" she started to say, but all of a sudden a group of six kids came running into the clearing.

"Jack! Jack!" A boy ran up to Jack and started to pull on his sleeve. "C'mon Jack! Play with us. Please." The kid turned on the puppy eyes.

Summer groaned when she realized it was the kid from earlier. The one who Jack tried to get to see her. That was the last thing she wanted. Summer had remained successfully anonymous for all these years and Jack had tried to ruin it. She was done here. She was never going to get Jack away long enough to convince him. She drifted over to her staff, passing the group of kids that had surrounded Jack. She huffed in frustration. That little breath accidently set off a hot gust of wind at the children. The brown haired boy felt the hot wind and turned, curiosity in his eyes. He stared at her.

"Jack, is that the fiery girl you were talking to earlier?" Jamie pointed at Summer. Jack and Summer gasped. The rest of the the kids turned to where Jamie was pointing and looked up at her in awe.

The tall, skinny girl, Pippa smiled and reached out to take her hand. Summer pulled away before Pippa could touch her. As Summer saw the hurt and confusion in the girl eyes she made a mistake that she had not made in fifty years. She put her feet on the ground.

"I'm sorry," Summer took a step forward. "I didn't mean to-"

Summer's apology was interrupted by a scream. Everyone turned to look at the blonde boy who had screamed. Monty pointed to Summer's feet, the horror he felt evident in his eyes. Summer felt a weight sink in her chest as she looked down. All around her, the green, summer grass she was standing on had turned brown and died. It was even starting to smoke.

Summer did not know what to do. She saw her staff and the small circle of dead grass surrounding it as well. She grabbed it and took off. With a shout, Jack chased after her. He reached her and grabbed her shoulders. He let go and hissed in pain as the heat of her skin started to burn his palms.

Jack looked at the girl in front of him no longer seeing the proud, confidant fighter that he knew she was. "Summer, what's going on?"

Tears started to fall from her eyes. "I can't touch anything! I've never been able to feel anything! That's what's GOING ON!" she shouted. The tears sizzled and turned to steam on her face as she became angrier and angrier. "I can't touch the ground. The trees. The animals. And nothing can touch me. It just burns. Everything always BURNS!"

Summer turned away from Jack and called on the wind to take her to Father Time's palace that floated above Antarctica. She was gone in an instant and Jack knew he would not be able to keep up. Jack floated down to the kids below. He told them to go home and he would come back to play with them. Then Jack called the winter wind and began to chase after Summer.

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 **A/N: So I had a couple follows on this (even though it's "technically" a one-shot) and I was wondering if people were actually interested in me continuing this story. So if you are, I created a poll so you can tell me. Check that out or just put it in the comments. Thanks.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: This is another scene from my imaginary sequel to ROTG. Read "Everything Burns" before this, it'll make more sense that way. Enjoy!**

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Summer did not have to imagine what Jack was feeling. She remembered when Father Time had told her and Bloom about the true nature of the staffs.

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"Summer, Bloom, come with me. We need to address an important issue," said Father Time.

The two seasonal spirits looked at each other, worried about what their keeper could have to tell them. But they obeyed him regardless. Nobody disobeyed Father Time. He directed the seasons, gave them a place to stay, took care of them. He was, well like a father. They all knew of their real parents and they remembered the crushing loneliness of wandering that each of them had done before coming to live in the Time Palace.

Bloom glanced at Summer for reassurance. He knew that she had been there longest, well longer than he or Leaf, but not as long as Old Man Winter. Nobody knew how long he had been here. The winds claimed he had been around as long as Father Time himself.

Summer caught Bloom's glance and smiled at the Spring spirit. The most interesting thing about the kid was his hair. Bloom's hair was just like grass. It stuck up straight from the top of his head and was the greenest green you would ever see regardless of how long you lived. His outfit consisted of various blues, greens and purples. Summer had been shocked when he first arrived at the Time Palace. The spirit of spring was almost never male. Old Man Winter said that Bloom was the second male Spring that he had ever met.

The group of three arrived at a pair of large, wooden doors. Both seasonal spirits recognised the doors immediately. They were at the staffing room.

That did not make any sense. It was fall. Leaf's season.

"Why are we here?" Summer asked.

"Because we need to speak on a matter concerning the staffs," Father Time replied.

Father Time opened the door and ushered Summer and Bloom inside. As always, it took Bloom's breath away just standing inside. And it was not just the heavy scent of magic that always permeated the chamber. The walls were an old light oak that reflected the colors of the stained glass above. The high-arched, stained glass ceiling let in colored light that shone each season's colors on their respective staffs. The Summer, Winter and Spring staffs floated, suspended in their designated spots. As usual, Bloom felt drawn to his staff. He wanted to touch the young wood. His staff was shorter than the others, but it was too long to be called a cane. It had green leaves and small flower blossoms at the end. The flowers never wilted and the leaves never died. That was his favorite part of Spring. All the life. That was Bloom's core, life. He loved to see new beginnings and new life.

Summer did not feel the draw to her staff like Bloom did. Her's hung in red, orange and yellow light. It was metal because her original wood one had burned. She had even manage to halfway melt the one in front of her now.

"Summer, Bloom, attention here, please." Father Time commanded. "Now that you have lived here for a few years I need to tell you the reason I keep your staffs here instead of letting you carry them. As you know the staffs are part of you, like your core. Because of this it is unsafe to let your staffs fall into the wrong hands."

"What do you mean?" questioned Bloom.

Summer had a guess. "If someone got a hold of our staffs could they control the seasons like us?"

"In a way," said Father Time. "A person would not be able to control a season directly like you do, but they would be able to control the owner of the staff."

"Like make us grow a forest in a day?" Bloom asked.

Or burn one down, thought Summer.

"Exactly like that, Bloom," Father Time said. "But there's something else about the staffs. If they break or are destroyed in any way, so are your powers."

Bloom gasped as what Father Time said hit him full force. His powers, gone? Just like that? No wonder Father Time kept this room locked and only let them have their staffs when it was their season.

As Father Time led the two children out Bloom asked, "Does Leaf know?"

"No, she doesn't and I'd prefer to tell her myself. So do not tell her about this."

"And Old Man Winter?" Summer questioned.

Father Time laughed, a light chuckle, "He was the one to tell me about all this, my dear."

Summer saw that they had reached the Great Hall. She split off from the group and headed up to her rooms to think about what Father Time had said. She was confused. Summer's original staff had been completely destroyed. She knew her attachment to her staff was not as strong as the other seasonal spirit's. In fact she could use her powers without her staff, something she knew Bloom and Leaf could not do. Not that she told them she could do that anyway. She decided it was time to visit Old Man Winter.

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 **A/N: So I had a couple follows on this (even though it's "technically" a one-shot) and I was wondering if people were actually interested in me continuing this story. So if you are, I created a poll so you can tell me. Check that out or just put it in the comments. Thanks.**


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